BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s exports to North Korea fell 6.6% last month versus May, customs data shows, though they remained eight times higher than in June 2022 when the secretive state was reporting tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases per day and had shut its border.
The data set is erratic, with exports often increasing in value by as much as 200% one month and falling by an equally dramatic amount in another.
Chinese customs typically does not explain why trade with North Korea fluctuates so much.
Outbound shipments from the world’s second-largest economy to North Korea totalled $154.7 million last month, Chinese customs data showed.
Chinese exports were dominated by $19.9 billion worth of processed hair and wool for use in wigs, with North Korea buying almost three times more of that particular commodity than the second ranking item, which was $6.4 billion worth of rice, despite the isolated country’s long-standing issue with food security.
Diammonium hydrogen phosphate, a widely used fertiliser, which was among China’s top two exports to North Korea in May and April, dropped out of the top 10 in June.
(Reporting by Joe Cash, Editing by William Maclean and Bernadette Baum)
